Ice tray



A. LENNING Dec. 19, 1939.

ICE TRAY Filed March 12-, 1936 INVENTOR, 45m 45;... BY

a ATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 19, 1939 Y UNITED STATES Alvar Lenning, Stockholm, Sweden, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Servel, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application March 12, 1936, Serial No. 68,466 In Germany March 14, 1935 17 Claims.

My invention relates to ice trays for refrigerators and it is an object of the invention to pro-' vide a simple and eiiective device to facilitate removalof an ice tray from a cooling element and also removal of ice cubes from the tray as will appear from the following description and the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification and of which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a freezing element and ice tray embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section taken on line 2--2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section takenon'line 33 in Fig. l; and

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 1 and illustrating a modification of the invention.

An ice tray I0 is of a desired size to be received in a freezing chamber II of a refrigerator cooling element I2. The tray I0 may be formed of sheet aluminum or other suitable metal, and has a plain stiffening flange I3 around its upper edge except at the front end of the tray where the flange is looped completely around to form a sleeve I4 extending across the upper front edge of the tray. The tray I9 is provided 'with any suitable type of grid or tray partition member I5 which is removably contained in the tray for forming a plurality of ice pieces.

The flange at the upper edge of thetray is notched on each side of the tray adjacent the front end thereof as at I6 in Fig. 2. The grid I5 is provided wtih a cross-bar II adjacent its fOI'! ward end, and the ends of the cross-bar I'I extend slightly beyond the sides of the tray I0 and overlie the notches I6. By exerting an upward force on the cross-bar II, the grid I5 and the ice cubes frozen therein may be broken loose from the tray II) in a block, and thereafter removed from the grid. For this purpose the grid I5, although here illustrated as an ordinary. rigid a metal grid, may be of any desired structure permitting easy removal of the cubes thereirom, such as reenforced soft rubber grid or resilient metal structure.

For the purpose of exerting an upward force on the crossbar I I, Iprovide two bell-crank levers pivoted on the tray and operable to engage the cross-bar I'I. These'bell-cranks have short arms I8 and I9, one on each side of the tray, and long arms formed by legs of a generally U-shaped handle 20'.- The handle 20 and arms I8 and I9 are integrally formed and pivoted on a rod 2I extending through the sleeve I 4 on the front edge of the tray Ill. The handle 20 may be journaled 55 on the ends of the rod 2|, or the rod may be journaled in the sleeves I4, or both. The weight distribution is suchthat the handle 20 depends downwardly in front of the tray and the arms I8 and I9 extend horizontally along each side 60 'of the tray. The arms I8 and I9 have upward projections 22 and 23 adapted to be moved through the notches I6 and into engagement with the ends of the cross-bar I! on the grid to exert a force for breaking a bond between the ice cubes and the tray. It will now be understood that this is accomplished by pressing the handle 20 toward the tray.

The cooling element I2 is provided with bosses or other suitable projections 24 and 25 which project respectively beneath the bell-crank arms I8 and I9 when the tray I0 is located in freezing compartment'll as in Fig. 1. It will nowv be understood that by pulling the handle 29 away from the tray I0, the arms I8 and I9 will be brought to bear upon the projections 24and 25 and thereby exert a force for breaking a bond between the bottom of the tray I0 and that part of the cooling element I2 on which it rests.

Referring to Fig. 4, the cooling element projection 25. may be located slightly lower than the projection 24, so that, upon pulling the handle 20; the arm I8 will exert a force on the projection 24 before the arm I9 contacts the projection 25. This preliminary force, being exerted at only one corner of the tray I0 tends to warp the tray .and thereby initiate breaking of the bond with what has been referred to as peeling action. In order to obtain this warping or peeling action in removal of the grid I 5 from the tray, the pro-' jection 22 on the arm I9 may be made slightly longer than the projection 23 on the arm I9, so that the projection 22 engages one end of the grid cross-bar I! very slightly in advance of engagement ofthe projection 23 with the other end of the cross-bar II. The slight movement of the cross-bar II before both ends thereof are engaged, tends to twist that portion of the grid I5 to which the cross-bar I'I isattached and thereby initiate breaking of the bond at one point, which breaking is then gradually continued over a greater area upon continued pressure on the handle 20.

It will be understood that various changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the invention as indicated in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with an ice tray having a removable grid, an improved force multiplyingdev'ice for breaking the grid loose from the tray and including a bell-crank lever pivoted on the said element, and a lever pivoted on said tray and normally held by gravity in a position intermediate the projections onsaid'grid and element;

tray, with the short arm adapted to engage the respectively, whereby removing forces between the tray. and said element and between the tray and the grid may be exerted by moving said lever in opposite directions.. 5 3. In combination with an ice tray having a removable grid, a pair of levers on said tray operable to engage said grid at opposite sides of said tray, and a handle for the tray connecting said levers and operable to operate the levers to exert lo a removing force on said grid substantially perpendicular to the force exerted on the handle.

4. In combination with an ice tray and a freezing element adapted to receive the tray, projections on said element, a pair of levers on said 16 tray operable to engage said projections at opp site sides of the tray, and a handle for the tray connecting said levers and operable to'operate the levers to exert a force between the tray and projections substantially perpendicular to the 20 force exerted on the handle.

5. In combination with an ice tray having a removable g'rid, a pair of levers on the tray operable to engage the grid at different points, and constructed and arranged so that one of said levers engages the grid in advance of the other lever, and means for operating said levers together.

6. In combination withan ice tray having a removable grid, a'handle pivoted on said tray and constructed and arranged to exert removing force on said grid at first one point and then simultaneously at two points.

7. In combination with an ice tray and freezing element therefor, a handle pivoted on said 3-5 tray, and constructed and arranged to exert a removing force between the tray and freezing element at first one point and then simultaneously at two points.

8. In combination withan ice tray having a removable grid, an improved leverage device for breaking the tray loose from-a cooling element and breaking the grid loose from the tray and consisting of a bell crank lever pivoted on said tray so thatthe weight of one armholds the other arm in direct operative relation with both said grid and a part associated with said cooling element when the tray is placed in the cooling element.

9. In combination with an ice tray having a 1'5 removable grid, an improved leverage device for breaking the tray loose from a cooling elementand breaking the grid loose from the tray and consisting of a bell crank lever pivoted on each side of said tray, and a U-shaped tray handle :5 forming one arm of each lever and holding the other arms thereof by gravity in operative relation with both said grid and a part associated .with said cooling element when the tray is placed in the cooling element.

09 10. In combination with an ice tray having a removable grid, a lever pivoted on saidtray, said lever having a first portion depending below said pivot pointto provide a handle and being mov able by a susbtantially horizontal tangential force pending from the pivot point, the center of gravity of said bell crank normally being vertically beneath the pivot point, and said long arm being operable by a substantially horizontal tangential force. A

12. In combination with an ice tray having a removable grid, an improved leverage device for both breaking the tray loose from a support and breaking the grid loose from the tray and consisting of a bell crank lever pivoted on said tray, 1 said lever having a longer arm depending below the pivot point to hold a shorter arm in operative position, said depending arm being operable in opposite directions by a substantially horizontal tangential force.

13. In combination with an ice, tray member having a removable grid member, a lever pivoted on one of said members and having a first portion depending downward below said pivot point on the outside of a wall of said tray member to 2 provide a handle, and said downward depending portion of said lever being angularly movable upwardly in a plane transverse to said wall to cause another portion of said lever at an angle to said first portion to exert removing force on said grid 2 member with respect to said tray member. f

14. In combination with an ice tray and freezing element therefor, a lever pivoted on said tray and having a first portion adapted to engagea surface associated with the freezing element to exert a removing force between the tray and freezing element, said lever having a second heavier portion fixed with respect to said first portion and depending freely beneath the pivot point with the center of gravity of said lever being vertically beneath the pivot point to normally hold the latter in operative position, and said second heavier portion forming a handle and being operable by a substantially horizontal tangential force.

15. In ice freezing apparatus, the combination of a tray member having a bottom, end walls and longitudinal side walls, a grid member removably fitting into said tray member, and means normally attached to one of said members and co- 4; operating with the other of said members at an end of said tray memberat only one region thereof ofiset with respect to the medial longitudinal and transverse axes of said tray member to break the ice bond and loosen said grid member from 5 said tray member.

16. In ice freezing apparatus, the combination of a tray member having a bottom, end walls and longitudinal side walls, a grid member removably fitting into said tray member, 'and a lever pivotally attached to one of said members and cooperating with the other of said members at an end of said tray member at only one region thereof offset with respect to the medial longitudinal and transverse axes of said tray member to break the ice bond and loosen said grid member from said tray member.

17. In ice freezing apparatus, the combination 1 of a tray, a grid removably fitting into said tray,

and a lever pivoted on said tray andcooperating 6;

, withsaid grid at a region oflset with respect to the medial longitudinal and transverse axes of said tray to produce the total separating force effective to break the ice bond to loosen said grid from said tray.

. ALVAR LENNING. 

